Coventry Health Care, Inc. (CVH) reported fourth quarter fiscal 2009 earnings of 74 cents per share from continuing operations, which was above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 56 cents. The company earned 55 cents from continuing operations in the year-ago quarter.

For fiscal 2009, Coventry earned $2.14 from continuing operations which was also above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.03. The company earned $2.41 from continuing operations in fiscal 2008.

Total operating revenues for the quarter climbed to $3.43 billion from $2.98 billion in the comparable period. Managed care premiums rose 16.8% to $3.12 billion, while revenues from management services increased marginally to $306.6 million from $305.3 million in the year-ago quarter. Total membership came in at 5.27 million at the end of the fourth quarter, up from 4.62 million at the end of the same period last year.

For the quarter, Coventry reported continued growth in Medicare products. Medicare Coordinated Care

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W.R. Berkley’s (WRB) fourth quarter earnings of 71 cents per share were ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 68 cents. In the year-ago quarter, the company had reported earnings of 74 cents per share. Earnings for the reported quarter were helped by an increase in net investment income, partially offset by lower premiums earned.

Net income was $134.3 million or 81 cents, compared with $40.3 million or 24 cents in the prior-year quarter. The results benefited from investment gains of $13.3 million coupled with an income of $3.3 million from investment funds.

Net premium written declined 6.8% on a year-over-year basis to $828.4 million. Premium compression was led by lower business written in Regional, Alternative and Specialty segments. W.R. Berkley has been experiencing pressure on net premiums written since the fourth quarter of 2006.

New business volume moderated during the reported quarter. These declines have been the result of increased competition,

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Universal Forest Products, Inc. (UFPI) announced fourth quarter and full year 2009 results. During the quarter, Universal Forest posted a net loss of $0.66 million or $0.03 per share compared to a net loss of $0.79 million or $0.04 in the fourth quarter of 2008. The reported EPS exactly matched with the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a net loss of $0.03.

Full-year 2009 net earnings were $24.3 million or $1.25 per share versus net earnings of $4.3 million, or $0.23 in 2008. However, EPS was slightly below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.29. The company’s continued focus on eliminating waste and critical basics like inventory and receivables have proven to be the right strategy in fragile times.

During the fourth quarter of 2009, net sales were $338.6 million, down from $423.7 million in the year-ago quarter. Full-year net sales were $1.7 billion versus $2.2 billion in 2008. The decline in net

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Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) reported fourth quarter earnings per share of $1.18, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.05. The company reported earnings of 91 cents in the year-ago period.

Performance was driven by higher revenues and lower expenses. Revenues increased 5% to $1.1 billion, with Tysabri and Avonex being the primary growth drivers.

For the full year, the company reported earnings of $4.03, well above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.93 and the year-ago earnings of $3.58. Full-year revenues increased 7% to $4.4 billion.

Revenue by Major Products

Fourth quarter Tysabri revenues came in at $216 million, up 39% from the prior period. Global in-market net sales of Tysabri, which is partnered with Elan Corp. (ELN), came in at $296 million (up 37%) in the fourth quarter of 2009. Tysabri global sales increased 30% to $1.1 billion in 2009 (US - $509 million; ROW [Rest of the World] - $551 million).

Despite

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Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX) recently started expanding the recall of its catheters as a result of a manufacturing problem that could cause fatal embolisms or blood leakage. Becton is recalling its defective Q-Syte Luer Access Devices and Nexiva Closed IV Catheter Systems. The company started the initial recall of these products on Oct 28, 2009.

Becton is in constant touch with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and worldwide health agencies to coordinate the recall. The Nexiva products have two Q-Syte devices within the package that could be affected. The Q-Syte devices are used with intravenous systems.

Becton has already recalled roughly 2.8 million Q-Syte and 2.9 million Nexiva units containing 5 million Q-Syte devices. Becton, Dickinson has identified the root cause of the manufacturing problem and has corrected it, according to the company.

We think that the product recall will have a minimal impact on Becton, Dickinson’s bottom-line. The

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Oil and natural gas firm Comstock Resources Inc. (CRK) reported weaker-than-expected fourth quarter results as low natural gas prices more than offset a rise in production volumes. The loss from operations came in at 15 cents per share, much wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 7 cents. In the year-ago period, the company earned 22 cents per share (adjusted for after-tax impairment charges). Oil and gas sales were down 9.9% year-over-year to $90.2 million.

Estimate Surprise Trend

It was the company’s third negative earnings surprise in the past four quarters. Comstock has performed poorly during this period, with its average earnings surprise being -48.4%. This implies that the company has missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 48.4% over the last four quarters.

Volume Growth

The company’s operational performance during the quarter continued to reflect the success of its enhanced onshore drilling programs and property acquisitions, resulting in quarterly volume growth of 26.7%

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Molson Coors Brewing Co.’s (TAP) second-quarter earnings came in at $222.1 million, compared to $93.7 million in the year-ago quarter. Excluding certain one-time items, pro forma earnings came in at $1.02 per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.10 per share derived from 9 covering analysts. The worse-than-expected results were primarily caused by sluggish volumes and cost inflation in the U.S. and the U.K.

Net sales recorded a growth of 11.0% to $820.8 million from $739.2 million in the year-ago quarter, primarily due to positive pricing and favorable mix. In terms of segments, sales grew 8.9% to $442.8 million in Canada, 13.6% in the U.K. to $358.6 million and 15.5% in the international segment to $19.4 million.

Overall beer volumes slipped 4.0% year-over-year to 12.11 million hectoliters. The company’s Canadian segment volumes remained essentially flat at 2.099 million hectoliters, while the U.K. segment recorded a decrease of 9.3% to

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UBS AG (UBS) has reported a fourth quarter net profit of CHF 1.21 billion ($1.1 billion) compared to a loss of CHF 564 million in the prior quarter and a loss of CHF 9.56 billion in the year-ago quarter. This is the first positive quarter since the third quarter of 2008.  Results were aided by lower costs and a tax credit. However, the company experienced an increase in client money outflows.

UBS reported a 21% year-over-year decline in expenses to CHF 5.18 billion, primarily reflecting the cost cut initiatives and the headcount reduction. The reported quarter’s results include a CHF 480 million tax credit is mainly attributable to the revaluation of deferred tax assets, principally in the U.S.

However, outflows of client money continued in the quarter. The company reported outflows of CHF 56.2 billion during the quarter, which picked up from CHF 36.7 billion incurred in the prior quarter but

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Chicago, IL – February 9, 2010- Kevin Matras goes over a Relative Price Change screen to help you find top performers no matter what the market is doing. Stocks in this week’s article include AmeriCredit Corp. (NYSE: ACF), Cabot Corp. (NYSE: CBT), MKS Instruments, Inc. (NASDAQ: MKSI), Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX) and Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE: UTI).

Screen of the Week written by Kevin Matras of Zacks Investment Research:

Over the last few weeks, I've found myself screening for stocks with the best Relative Price Changes in an effort to determine whether a stock is good or not.

Of course earnings growth and valuations are important. But if a stock is simply not responding, or even going down (worse than the market), something's wrong. Or at the very least, it's simply not ready to move higher.

This doesn't mean you should only look at its price change.

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Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (CTSH) reported revenues of $902.7 million in the fourth quarter, up 20% year over year and up 6% sequentially. Earnings per share (EPS) came in at 50 cents compared to 41 cents in the year-ago quarter and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 46 cents.

Operating margin came in at 19.9%, in line with the management’s targeted range of 19% – 20%, but slightly down from 20.5% generated a year ago. During the quarter, the company expanded its headcount by 10,300 and ended the year with a headcount of 78,400.

Despite the global slowdown, Cognizant continues to deliver strong results. For 2009, the company reported revenues of $3.279 billion, up 16% from a year ago. Earnings per share came in at $1.90. Operating margin came in at 20.3%, almost flat with 2008. Cognizant ended the quarter with cash and equivalents of $1.1 billion, up from $735.1 million

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